THE Premier League looks set to make a major rule change following Chelsea’s incredible spending spree.
Todd Boehly is closing in on £1billion of transfers since buying the Stamford Bridge club in May 2022.
GettyChelsea landed Moises Caicedo for a record £115m from Brighton[/caption]
Yesterday’s arrival of Moises Caicedo saw the club break their own British transfer record fee – splashing out an eye-watering £115million to land the midfielder from Brighton.
That eclipsed the £107m Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez from Benfica in January.
Ecuadorian Caicedo, 21, signed an initial eight-year contract until 2031, with the option of a further 12 months.
Chelsea have another 21 players tied down in West London for more than five years.
That has enabled the Blues to exploit a Financial Fair Play loophole by spreading the transfer fees across the length of the contracts – in turn reducing their outgoing costs for this season and staying within FFP boundaries.
Last year’s accounts showed Chelsea spent just less than £100m despite a host of big-money arrivals including Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella.
The loophole, coupled with Chelsea making more than £200m from player sales this summer, ensures the club have avoided a breach of the financial rules.
However, the Daily Mail report the Premier League are now planning to put an end to that crafty plan by implementing a five-year limit for transfer fees to be paid, regardless of the length of the contract.
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That rule – designed to prevent crazy spending – was recently introduced by Uefa and it is understood the Premier League will follow suit to come into line with the European governing body.
However, while the Premier League consider working on getting the changes ratified, Chelsea are able to keep signing new players under the current legislation without limits.
The fact the club finished 12th last season means they are not playing in Europe this term – and also frees them from Uefa’s new five-year ruling for the 2023-24 campaign.
Six fresh faces have joined the Chelsea first team under Mauricio Pochettino this summer – with a further four new players either linking up with the youth set-up or heading straight out on loan.
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Axel Disasi and Christopher Nkunku are penned until 2029, Robert Sanchez and Lesley Ugochukwu agreed contracts until 2030, while Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson’s deals expire in 2031.
Boehly has already spent £906.8m on 27 new signings in the last three transfer windows.
And the £50m deal with Southampton for Romeo Lavia should take that figure even closer to the £1bn mark while Michael Olise could also join from Crystal Palace.
Todd Boehly has exploited an FFP loophole with his mega spending as Chelsea ownerGetty
GettyThe Enzo Fernandez deal was another to be spread across a huge length of time[/caption]